Abstract
Electronic identification services (eIDs) have become strategic services in the global governance of online societies. In this article, we argue that eIDs are sociotechnical constructs that also have political-economic dimensions. In the European context, governmental and corporate efforts to develop eIDs are shaped by legal EU frameworks, which are almost exclusively focussed on technical and legal interoperability, such as the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the European Interoperability Reference Architecture (EIRA). Public concerns such as privacy, security, user empowerment and control over one’s personal information prompts developers to propose a decentralized, attribute-based system governed on a nonprofit, nonstate basis (DAN-eID). To illustrate our argument, we explore a single emerging eID system (IRMA; acronym for I Reveal My Attributes) that is developing in a national context (The Netherlands). We argue that developing eIDs requires more than engineering ingenuity and legal compliance; as sociotechnical and political-economic constructs, they involve negotiation of conflicting social and political values.
Highlights
Electronic identification services have become strategic infrastructural aids in the global governance of online societies. eIDs are digital solutions to prove one’s identity, for example, to obtain access to services provided by companies, government agencies or institutions
In the two sections, we take the development of one eID system (IRMA) as an example to explore how its design reflects the choice for a decentralized, attribute-based system governed on a nonprofit, nonstate basis (DAN-eID)
We evaluate the obstacles faced by DAN-eIDs such as IRMA
Summary
Electronic identification services (eIDs) have become strategic infrastructural aids in the global governance of online societies. eIDs are digital solutions to prove one’s identity, for example, to obtain access to (digital) services provided by companies, government agencies or institutions. EIDs are increasingly expected to reflect broader public concerns such as privacy, security, user empowerment and control over one’s personal information – rendering broader regulatory frameworks like the electronic Identification Authentication and trust Services (eIDAS) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) more relevant (Van den Hoven et al, 2015).
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